


Phishing

by artoni



Category: Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: mind hacking, unreality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-12
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-25 04:58:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/635358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artoni/pseuds/artoni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The Decepticons are <i>phishing</i> for the access code to this chamber...Maximus is comatose, but they've got him entering billions of combinations. He's a living lock pick."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phishing

**Author's Note:**

> _Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords...by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication._  
>  -wikipedia

It began with an understanding that _something_ was wrong. _Something_ had changed, and not for the better- but Fortress Maximus had no time to understand this disorentation before _it_ began. 

Hundreds of thousands of pings, of data requests, infringing on his systems- _using_ his systems. As though something had crawled in to his processor and was trying to work it _for_ him. Though he had long since ceased to scream at any torment Overlord had infringed on him, he found one welling within, but not even his _vocalizer_ was under his command anymore-

He couldn't see, he couldn't _think_ , _override search query Aequit **override denied, terminate program**_

We'll get you out of here, Maximus, we've got you, we just need to get to where you are, we /need/ those codes-!

Shock replaced horror, and he felt the feelers creep deeper, worm farther- desperate for safety, he _wanted_ to believe that it was them, someone, anyone, he didn't know who and more importantly he didn't care, _get me out of here-!_

_**NO!** _

Screaming in to silence, seeing in to void, Fortress Maximus fought against a torture that made all others seem as nothing. As the requests continued, insisting, _using_ , he could have howled his helplessness but this was _wrong_.

This...this _hope_. This wasn't _real_.

The Autobots knew about Aequitas, they knew how important it was, surely they'd come to save it, _finally_ \- _it_ , and not him. And therein was a kernal of truth that he clung to, desperately, shielding himself behind the knowledge that he had come to understood over the years, understood greater than he did the Autobot Code itself;

 _It_ was important. The lives of himself, and every single guard at Garrus - was _not_.

There was no rescue. There would never _be_ a rescue. _01100001 01100101 01110001 01110101 01101001 01110100 01100001 01110011-please retry_ Maximus realized that he would die in Garrus-9, only when Overlord wished it but die he _would._

_We just need the codes, Maximus, tell us-!_

_**You're not real.** _

_Anything, anything we can use to get you out of here, trust us-!_

_**You lie.** _

_It's over, it's all over-_

_**I'm not worth saving.** _

After the mess he'd made of the battle, over trying to handle Overlord, trying vainly to struggle for the lives of his men, doing everything and anything he could- being _bent_ , being nearly _broken_ , holding on to his last shred of _self_ with a stubbornness _he_ didn't even know he had...

_We'll get you out of here. We'll bring you home._

Nobody was here.

Nobody was coming to save him.

Nobody ever _would_.

Fortress Maximus had never felt more alone than now, with the promise that he _wasn't_.


End file.
